Browns Draft 3 QBs In 2 Years For First Time In 15 Years

The Cleveland Browns just did something no NFL team has done in 15 years: drafted three quarterbacks across two consecutive drafts. Dillon Gabriel in the third round of 2025. Shedeur Sanders in the fifth. Taylen Green in the sixth round of 2026. That’s not depth. That’s an organization telling the world it has no idea who its quarterback is. Sanders alone fell roughly 120 spots from his projected first-round range to pick 144. The chaos started on draft night. It reached a lot further than Cleveland.

Why Sanders Fell Four Rounds

Sanders’ slide had nothing to do with his arm. At the Combine, he only accepted interviews with the top seven teams. One of those teams asked him to study their playbook beforehand. He showed up unprepared and instead grilled their leadership about their support plan. NFL scouts flagged professionalism concerns across the board. The talent was first-round caliber. The approach was not. GM Andrew Berry later framed Sanders as “good value” at the pick. The Browns traded a fifth and sixth-round pick to move up 22 spots and grab him.

Three QBs, Zero Clarity

The immediate fallout hit the locker room before it hit the headlines. Three quarterbacks drafted across two years means three players competing for reps, three agents managing expectations, and a coaching staff forced to divide practice time instead of building around one guy. Sanders was limited to fourth-string reps early in the 2025 season despite being the team’s most talked-about investment. Chad Johnson ripped the Browns publicly for refusing to name a QB1, saying the organization “plays right into the circus.” He was right.

The Owner Who Didn’t Want Him

Here’s where the fracture goes deeper than roster management. Owner Jimmy Haslam publicly stated that Sanders’ selection was not his preference, telling reporters that if you’d told him on draft Friday they’d pick Shedeur, he’d have said “that’s not going to happen” — and that the call was Berry’s. That was Berry’s call. Think about what that does to an organization. The owner contradicts the GM on the record. Media members now have permission to question every decision. Coach Monken inherits a quarterback he has to defend while knowing his own boss didn’t want the pick. Every press conference question about a QB battle traces back to Haslam’s comment. The organization built the circus, then blamed the audience.

The Draft Changed The Scouting Playbook

Sanders’ slide sent a message far beyond Cleveland. Future draft classes watched a projected first-rounder lose millions in projected guaranteed money because of interview behavior, not game tape. Andscape reported that the fall “still sends a message” about professionalism and humility in scouting. Combine interview performance now carries more weight than ever. Scouts weaponized “preparation concerns” as evaluation criteria. One quarterback’s selective approach reshaped how every prospect in the next three draft classes will prepare. That ripple hasn’t stopped moving.

The Machine Behind The Mess

Every one of these ripples connects to the same structural failure. The Browns have cycled through dozens of starting quarterbacks since returning to the NFL in 1999. That chronic instability creates a loop: ownership panics, the front office hedges by drafting multiple QBs, the coaching staff manages competing narratives instead of developing one player, media asks obvious questions, and the organization calls it manufactured drama. Owner doubts GM. GM overrides coach’s preferences. Coach defends picks he didn’t choose. Same machine. Different decade. Identical result.

“I’m In Enough Trouble Already”

During the post-draft press conference, reporter Mary Kay Cabot pressed Monken on the QB room. He bristled visibly and quipped that he was “in enough trouble already” before being asked about any internal conflict. Nobody asked him about trouble. Nobody mentioned internal conflict. He volunteered it. That single phrase confirmed what the three-QB strategy, Haslam’s public doubt, and the organizational chaos all pointed toward: Monken was managing pressure that existed long before any reporter turned on a microphone. Shannon Sharpe blasted the media for manufacturing a battle that Monken’s own workload plan already settled.

A New Rule For NFL Front Offices

The Browns’ dysfunction set a precedent that other organizations noticed. When ownership publicly contradicts the GM, it invites scrutiny that no press conference can deflect. Future coaches now know that defending a controversial pick raises personal stakes: if Sanders failed, Monken owned the defense. The draft coverage even reached the White House podium, where the press secretary fielded a question about President Trump’s role in Sanders getting picked — an unprecedented level of cultural resonance for a fifth-round selection. The lesson spreading across the league is blunt. Mixed messaging from ownership doesn’t just create media problems. It erodes the chain of command that winning organizations protect.

Winners, Losers, And The Value Gap

Berry won the value argument. He got first-round talent at a fifth-round price. Haslam lost credibility by publicly undercutting his own front office. Deion Sanders has bristled at the draft coverage of his son, while Shedeur’s selective Combine strategy contributed to the slide that cost millions in projected guarantees. The real loser was organizational clarity. Three QBs competing for one job meant nobody developed at full speed. Sanders himself said his limited reps were “not in my control.” The irony: the family’s attempt to protect Shedeur’s leverage destroyed it.

364 Yards And A Cascade That Isn’t Over

Sanders threw for 364 yards and four total touchdowns in his start against the Titans, setting the single-game record for any former Colorado player in NFL history and posting the most prolific Browns rookie passing performance of the 2025 season. The talent was never the question. But one breakout game doesn’t fix a front office where the owner doubts the GM, the coach confesses to pre-existing trouble, and the media asks questions the organization’s own dysfunction invited. The cascade keeps expanding. The machine that created it still runs.

Sources:
Cabot, Mary Kay. “Browns select QB Shedeur Sanders in Round 5 of 2025 NFL Draft.” Cleveland.com, April 26, 2025.
Reed, Jake. “Browns select QB Taylen Green with the No. 182 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.” ClevelandBrowns.com, April 24, 2026.
Williams, Charean. “Browns owner Jimmy Haslam says Shedeur Sanders wasn’t his pick.” Pro Football Talk via Yahoo Sports, July 30, 2025.
Sullivan, Tyler. “Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam pushes back on claims he influenced Shedeur Sanders pick.” CBS Sports, July 29, 2025.
Wickersham, Seth. “Browns trade up, pick QB Shedeur Sanders in 5th round of NFL draft.” ESPN, April 26, 2025.
Robinson, William C. “At 2026 NFL draft, Shedeur Sanders’ 2025 fall still sends a message.” Andscape, April 22, 2026.